Thailand’s Proposed Hotel and Overnight Accommodation Act

Updated September 2026 — includes parliamentary developments through August 2026.

Thailand is considering a new legal framework for smaller and alternative accommodation businesses. The proposed Hotel and Overnight Accommodation Act could create a separate licensing route for guesthouses, homestays, hostels, villas, outdoor accommodation and certain other properties offering paid short-term stays. It may also affect some accommodation advertised through Airbnb, Booking.com, Agoda and similar platforms, but the proposal is not yet law.

Practical answer. The proposed limit of 29 rooms and 58 guests cannot be used today. Until a new Act is enacted and published in the Royal Gazette, operators must comply with the existing Hotel Act, the present small-accommodation rules and all other laws applying to the property.

Current law compared with the proposal

The most important distinction is simple: Thailand already has a limited route for certain small accommodation, while the 2026 proposal would create a broader licensed category. These are not the same legal schemes and their numerical limits should not be confused.

Current law: up to 8 rooms / 30 guests

Under the 2023 Ministerial Regulation, accommodation containing no more than eight rooms and capable of receiving no more than 30 guests may fall outside the statutory definition of a hotel. This does not happen automatically: the operator must notify the hotel registrar, the premises must be inspected and the registrar must issue a written acknowledgement.

The acknowledgement is valid for five years. A property that has not completed this procedure cannot rely on the room and guest limits alone.

Proposed law: up to 29 rooms / 58 guests

The draft would create an overnight accommodation establishment as a new licensed category, separate from a conventional hotel. An eligible operator would still have to apply for and obtain a licence and comply with property, safety and operating requirements.

This category does not yet exist. The proposed 29-room and 58-guest limits create no present right to accept short-term bookings.

The current regulation expressly requires notification, inspection and written acknowledgement. It also provides that the acknowledgement should be issued within 40 days after notification where the premises meet the applicable requirements. The procedure may be carried out electronically; where that is unavailable, the regulation identifies the Department of Provincial Administration office in Bangkok or the district office for accommodation elsewhere.

For a detailed explanation of the law currently applying to nightly and short-term rentals, see Airbnb in Thailand: hotel licensing and short-term rental law. An English translation of the present small-accommodation rules is available in the Thailand Hotel Regulation 2023.

What should a property owner or host do now?

A villa, guesthouse, hostel, homestay or condominium advertised online is not made lawful by the booking platform or by the possibility of future legislation. Before accepting nightly or weekly guests, an owner or operator should establish which legal route applies to the property and whether the building may lawfully be used for that purpose.

  1. Identify the actual rental model. Record the normal length of stay, number of rooms, maximum number of guests, services provided and frequency of bookings. A genuine residential letting by the month is legally different from repeatedly selling accommodation by the night or week.
  2. Check the present Hotel Act position. Determine whether a hotel licence is required or whether the premises may qualify for the notified small-accommodation category. Do not assume that staying below eight rooms is sufficient without the required acknowledgement.
  3. Check the approved use of the building. Building-control, fire-safety, planning and public-health requirements may prevent or restrict accommodation use even where the room limit is satisfied.
  4. Check private and development restrictions. For a condominium or a managed housing estate, review the registered regulations, juristic-person rules and relevant resolutions. Permission from a booking platform or an individual owner cannot override them.
  5. Check the operator’s legal position. Business registration, tax, immigration guest reporting, foreign-business restrictions and work authorization may apply separately. A hotel or accommodation approval does not replace these requirements.

Anyone already operating short-term accommodation should therefore assess the business under current law rather than wait for the bill. If the new system is enacted, the operator can then consider whether the property is eligible to move into the proposed overnight-accommodation category.

What would the new overnight-accommodation category cover?

The Thai title of the proposal is ร่างพระราชบัญญัติโรงแรมและสถานที่พักค้างคืน พ.ศ. ...., descriptively translated as the Draft Hotel and Overnight Accommodation Act B.E. .... It was introduced by Member of Parliament Natthaphon Tovijakchaikul together with other members as a proposed replacement and modernization of the Hotel Act B.E. 2547 (2004).

Under the 2026 draft, an overnight accommodation establishment could include rooms, houses, guesthouses, buildings or other places providing paid temporary accommodation, provided that the establishment has at least one but no more than 29 rooms, accommodates no more than 58 guests and is serviced by its owner or a caretaker. The definition is intended to include hostels and homestays as well as outdoor or unconventional accommodation such as tents, residential rafts, tree houses and caravans. Other forms could later be designated by the responsible minister.

This would not be a larger version of the existing exemption. It would be a regulated business category requiring a licence. The draft proposes a maximum licence fee of 25,000 baht for an overnight-accommodation business and an annual operating fee of 40 baht per room. These figures are statutory ceilings in a draft and may change before enactment or through later implementing rules.

Licensing through local authorities

The proposal would place responsibility for hotel and overnight-accommodation licensing with the relevant local authority: the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, Pattaya City, a municipality or a Subdistrict Administrative Organisation, depending on the location. This could make local authorities more directly responsible for property inspections and operating conditions, but it may also produce practical differences between locations if standards and enforcement are not applied consistently.

What would the proposal mean for Airbnb and other platforms?

The proposal does not create a special “Airbnb licence” and does not regulate Airbnb as a separate form of accommodation. Airbnb, Booking.com, Agoda, Vrbo and similar services are advertising and booking channels. The legal position depends on the actual use of the property, including the length and frequency of stays, the services offered, the building’s approved use and whether the operator has the required licence or valid acknowledgement.

If enacted, the new category could give some smaller villas, guesthouses, hostels, homestays and other properties a clearer route to legal short-term operation. It would not legalize every property appearing on a platform. A listing could remain unlawful or unsuitable because of building-control requirements, fire safety, local rules, condominium restrictions or the absence of a licence.

The platform is not the permission. Taking a booking through Airbnb or another website does not replace a hotel or accommodation licence, a small-accommodation acknowledgement, building approval, condominium permission, immigration reporting or business compliance.

What about rentals of 30 days or more?

The draft maintains a distinction between temporary accommodation and premises offered exclusively on a monthly basis or for a longer period. A genuine monthly residential letting would normally be treated differently from a nightly or weekly accommodation business. Calling a booking “monthly” is not necessarily decisive if the way the property is advertised, serviced and repeatedly occupied shows a different arrangement. Condominium rules, residential rental regulation, tax and immigration requirements may also continue to apply.

Would the proposal legalize short-term rentals in condominiums?

No, not automatically. The draft contemplates that a condominium unit, a house in a managed housing estate or premises shared with others might potentially be used as overnight accommodation, but the applicant would first need written permission from the relevant condominium or housing-estate juristic person. That permission would only allow the applicant to proceed with the licence application; it would not be the licence itself.

An individual owner would therefore have no unrestricted right to operate daily rentals. The Condominium Act, the registered condominium regulations, co-owner resolutions, the building’s permitted use and safety requirements would remain relevant. In practice, these additional restrictions may prevent a unit from qualifying even if it falls within the proposed room and guest limits.

What operating requirements would apply?

The proposed category is designed as regulated accommodation, not informal rental activity without oversight. The draft would require an operator to maintain a caretaker whom guests can contact, display the licence and accommodation rates, keep guest-registration records available for inspection and maintain clean, hygienic and secure premises. Fire-escape information, emergency-exit signs, suitable fire extinguishers and assistance during fire, flooding or other emergencies would also be required.

The building would still have to be assessed according to its lawful classification and approved use under Thailand’s building-control legislation. A residential house or unit does not automatically become suitable for commercial overnight accommodation simply because it is small. Depending on the property and operator, public-health rules, immigration reporting such as TM30, tax and business registration, consumer protection, foreign-business restrictions and work-permit requirements could apply alongside the accommodation licence.

A note for foreign owners and operators

Foreign ownership or lawful possession of a property does not by itself authorize the owner to operate an accommodation business or personally work in that business. The legality of the property use, the business structure and the individual’s work authorization are separate questions. The proposed Act would not remove those distinctions.

What the proposal would not change

Even if enacted in its present form, the proposal would not override condominium law, building-control rules, land-allocation or housing-estate restrictions, fire and public-health standards, immigration obligations, tax law, foreign-business law or work-permit requirements. Nor would a licence resolve a private restriction that validly prevents the property from being used for short stays. The new licence would be one necessary part of compliance, not a universal approval covering every legal issue.

The draft also preserves enforcement against operating a hotel or overnight-accommodation business without the required licence and provides for corrective orders, suspension and financial penalties. Because the section numbers and penalties may change during the legislative process, draft sanctions should not be presented as the penalties currently applicable to an existing rental operation.

The proposed Hotel and Overnight Accommodation Act discussed above is not the only hotel-law proposal under consideration. Several separate bills have been introduced, but they have different purposes and are at different stages of the legislative process. They should not be treated as one combined proposal.

Government Hotel Act amendment in committee

On 8 July 2026, the House of Representatives considered a government-sponsored amendment to the Hotel Act together with a similar bill proposed by Member of Parliament Thanayot Timsuwan and colleagues. The House accepted the bills in principle and referred them to a special parliamentary committee for detailed consideration. The committee continued its examination during August 2026.

These bills primarily concern the electronic registration and reporting of hotel guests. They would replace certain paper records with electronic guest-registration procedures, require guest information to be sent electronically to the hotel registrar and provide for information concerning foreign guests to be transmitted to the Immigration Bureau. They would also revise related administrative penalties. They do not, in their original form, create the proposed 29-room and 58-guest overnight-accommodation category described in this article.

Broader proposals for small and non-hotel accommodation

The proposal introduced by MP Natthaphon Tovijakchaikul and colleagues would go considerably further by replacing the existing Hotel Act with a new Hotel and Overnight Accommodation Act. Its public consultation ended on 30 April 2026 and the official consultation report was published on 19 June 2026. Because it is classified as a member-sponsored financial bill, the parliamentary record currently identifies it as awaiting certification by the Prime Minister before it can proceed further.

A separate Hotel Act amendment proposed by MP Naknang Kunlathasiri and colleagues was opened for consultation from 30 April to 30 May 2026. That proposal would bring various forms of “accommodation that is not a hotel” within the regulatory framework and divide them into categories covering fixed accommodation such as hostels, guesthouses and homestays, movable accommodation and other forms designated by ministerial regulation. This proposal is also recorded as awaiting certification by the Prime Minister.

The special committee considering the government Hotel Act amendments invited Natthaphon Tovijakchaikul to explain proposed amendments on 19 August 2026. This shows that broader reform of small and alternative accommodation is being discussed during the committee process. It does not, however, establish that the committee has adopted the proposed 29-room and 58-guest category.

What this means in practice. Parliament is actively considering reforms to Thailand’s hotel and guest-reporting laws, but no parliamentary development described in this section has yet brought the proposed 29-room and 58-guest licensing category into force. Property owners and accommodation operators must continue to follow the present Hotel Act and the existing small-accommodation rules.

Official parliamentary records: House meeting of 8 July 2026; parliamentary paper on the government Hotel Act amendment; Hotel and Overnight Accommodation Act proposal; separate Hotel Act amendment concerning non-hotel accommodation; and special committee agenda of 19 August 2026.

Current status of the proposed Act

The proposal was opened for consultation under Section 77 of the Constitution from 31 March to 30 April 2026. The House of Representatives subsequently published its consultation and regulatory-impact report on 19 June 2026. As of this September 2026 update, the measure remains a legislative proposal and has not replaced the Hotel Act B.E. 2547 (2004).

The official report records both support and objections. Supporters see a clearer licensing route for smaller tourism businesses and a way to distribute tourism income locally. Concerns include fire and building safety, different standards for hotels and smaller establishments, enforcement capacity, local discretion and the effect of daily rentals on condominium residents. The final wording, if Parliament adopts the proposal, may therefore differ from the consultation draft and would require implementing procedures before the system could operate in practice.

Frequently asked questions

Is the 29-room and 58-guest limit already law?

No. Those limits appear in the proposed legislation. Current law provides a separate route for certain accommodation of no more than eight rooms and 30 guests, subject to notification, inspection and written acknowledgement.

Can I start offering daily rentals while the bill is being considered?

No. A proposed law creates no operating right. The Hotel Act and all other rules currently applying to the property remain in force unless and until new legislation legally takes effect.

Would written permission from a condominium juristic person be enough?

No. Under the draft, written permission would be a preliminary condition for applying for the new accommodation licence. It would not replace the licence, building approval or compliance with other applicable laws.

Does the proposal apply only to Airbnb properties?

No. It concerns paid temporary accommodation regardless of whether guests are obtained through Airbnb, another platform, an agent or direct bookings.

Would a foreign owner be allowed to run the business personally?

Not merely because the property receives an accommodation licence. Foreign-business and work-authorization rules would continue to apply separately to the business and the activities performed by the foreign owner.

Official Thai sources

Editorial note. This article is based on the published Thai-language draft and official parliamentary and government sources. The English terminology is explanatory and is not an official translation. The article provides general information and is not a substitute for advice on a particular property or accommodation business.

Thai search reference: ร่างพระราชบัญญัติโรงแรมและสถานที่พักค้างคืน พ.ศ. ..... In a Thai draft title, “พ.ศ. ....” indicates that the Buddhist Era year remains blank until enactment.